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Saturday 17 March 2012

Creative Transformation

Therapeutic aspects of dance.

Catching up with formative feedback and BAPP network's activities

Wow

I have been catching up with the blogs - trying to stick to the Addendum schedules - but If I am late getting to your blog apologies...

A bit of gossip and productions that people are doing that I have seen happening.

Jacob is touring in The Myth and the Madness of Edgar Allan Poe
http://jacob-hughes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/myth-and-madness-of-edgar-allan-poe.html
http://balletfleming.wordpress.com/

Jessica Clipp is a BAPP alumnus
http://www.chickenshed.org.uk/1343/chickenshed-kensington-amp-chelsea/meet-the-team.html

A number of folks were in Shakespeare's Island - I got to see this on the 8th March
http://www.chickenshed.org.uk/1624/shows/shakespeares-island.html

Thursday 15 March 2012

Module 2 Searching for Literature - what experts have said about your topic area

Searching literature - go to my earlier blog for advice on how to search for literature for your topic and inquiry questions 

MDX has  good selection of journals that have articles about topic area - as do many professional newspaper or websites. You may want to start 'shopping' for ideas by googling some key words...


The journals can be found on the Library Dance Libguide - you can also ask Rosie, the subject librarian, for advice.


There are also subject journals for performing arts , design, educations, business, psychology, etc.

  • Animated: magazine of the Community Dance and Mime Foundation
  • Ballet Review
  • Choreographic Practices
  • Choreologica
  • Contact Quarterly
  • Dance Chronicle
  • Dance Dynamic (previously called 'Dance Expression')
  • Dance Europe
  • Dance Gazette: membership magazine for the Royal Academy of Dancing
  • Dance Magazine
  • Dance Matters
  • Dance Research Journal
  • Dance Research: the journal of the Society for Dance Research
  • Dance Theatre Journal: the voice of dance
  • Dance UK News
  • Dancing Times
  • Journal of Dance Medicine and Science
  • Mailout: the national magazine for developing participation in the arts
  • Movement Research Performance Journal
  • PAJ (Performing Arts Journal): a journal of performance and art
  • Peak Performance
  • Performance Research
  • Research in Dance Education

Response to effective writing day in a visual form


This is my response to some of my ideas form the writing day with Peter Thomas from the Learning Development unit that we had as a group on the 8th of March.

Explanation: Many years ago I was the executor of an estate and the profundity of this event is still there, wills are also a shorthand in my visual reference bank for sustaining human drive and motivation - human will. Other bits of writing, meta-language, include my voting registration, my office lists, and the writing we did in the workshop. The visual format is a collage of the thinking we did at the workshop and how it was personalised in my journal (which I keep for work and personal activities).

Link (added) about drawing for reflective practice http://paulanottingham.blogspot.com/2010/10/drawing-for-reflective-practice.html

REWARDS, conveyance, and bugbears - looking at the 'messy' process of getting things done

PLEASE comment on what you do as a reward - share your practice!!!!!!!!!


REWARDS, conveyance, and bugbears - looking at the 'messy' process of getting things done

Conveying information is a skill that we practice all the time. What I mean by conveyance is the passing on of thoughts and information. I am borrowing the term from the house market, where it is more about transferring property. Conveyance is about sharing practice.

It is a rare occasion when I think I have communicated things really well. However practice makes perfect... Conveyance takes experience, 'doing it' or 'trying it out',  to do well - so writing or speaking with others more helps us to be clear (clarity) and to convey meaning in what we say. Receiving and responding to feedback helps.




Proof reading is essential for me as my first drafts can be rather murky or the images used not well planned to convey meaning. I sometimes have to have 2nd or 3rd goes and re-think imagery. I love it when I get it right though, whether the process has been easy or hard.

My bugbears are when people do not practice improving their skills - BUT finding ways to get past the road blocks is difficult! Another bugbear is organisation - - it is really good to label files and documents so that they make sense. I personally like to alphabetise - it is a habit from coordinating short courses. Disorganised information needs to be sorted. I make mistakes, but I do not like them. I am more tolerant of the mistakes of others than my own. Does this sound familiar? Mistakes can sometimes indicate more practice is needed but the creative professionals I just heard speak at the conference I went to about creative businesses said not to be afraid of mistakes because they were a part of working creatively. I will remember that statement and put it into my practice.

REWARDS - the message here is spending your time on your BAPP work, your final year of university, do not forget to reward yourself!




Sweets? Music? Time watching a film? Lunch? An exercise or yoga class? A new gadget? Having success with comments is a great reward. Talking with others on the course is a reward - people have given you a gift of time - and that gives a great emotional boost. Chocolate we know about. Finally the exec from the Watershed in Bristol (from the conference I went to) suggested beer as the lubricant of progress in shared creative endeavours. Many creative and cultural professionals in the audience agreed with her approach.

In continued professional development you need to develop mechanisms to reward yourself and your colleagues so that the work makes sense. Finding the time to incorporate learning into your routine is often challenging, so find the knowledge and understanding that is important to what you do. BAPP(Arts) is a university course so of course there will be a qualification at the end of the process.

So write an action list. Write down some easy to do things as well as difficult, then reward your efforts.


This was originally written on the late on the way home on the train and came out a bit harshly - I used my Draw ap to add some pictures - but hope through editing it has lightened up a bit!

Sunday 11 March 2012

Ethical Practice - the Milgrin experiment

Module 2 extract - Questions from Reader 4

Lily had the idea of gathering the self-managed questions to help frame her topic in a blog.

Also see below the questions to help think about your inquiry.


Questions from Reader 4

Are there any ideas from work based or organisational knowledge theories of learning that could be used to understand your own professional inquiry?

Do you work within a disciplinary context in the arts? Or is your situation more trans-disciplinary?

What do you know? How do you do it? Make a brief list of your competences and capabilities.


What knowledge and skills do you think you will need for the future?


What were some of the points in the reading that you will use to develop your topic?


What are some starting points that you might use for your questions?


Are there questions or comments or observations at this point?


What are your expectations about discussing these questions with the people with whom you work?


Can you ‘theorise’ your own worker-researcher position?

Can you find sources within your organisation, such as company policy papers or job descriptions that clarify how your relationship to the organisation will affect your inquiry?


How does your SIG compare to other groups or communities that you are a part of in the workplace?

How will you use your SIG?

How will you evidence the shared practice within you own professional inquiry process?

Writing visual - see this link for a source for planning your Module 3 artefact?

Module 1 Reflective Writing

Reflective writing is used at university to add a personal voice to learning. It can also bring together learning form all aspects of one's life. The difference with reflection for professional practice is that you are thinking about yourself in a professional role (paid or unpaid) in ways that can lead to 1. different ways to tackle problems or find solutions and 2. observing your own role and the events and incidents that happen that can inform you about what you do.

There are some goo university sites that mention reflection BUT do keep in mind that you are not just 'in a placement' but in the workplace as a person doing the job. It might seem like a subtle difference for emerging rather that establishing professionals, but the difference can be crucial to your development as a professional.

You have both public and private places to reflect in - it is important that you are the person who can decide what is confidential and what is for public/BAPP network consumption about your work. I have discussed this issue with both Ahmet and Pauline - there is no right answer but your own. This module is about deciding how to address both your public and private professional selves and then sharing what is appropriate with others on the course and beyond. Private extracts that are submitted with your work are confidential, but there are many ways to talk about issues publicly. For example, I though of the film director Martin Scorsese - I hope Pauline appreciates his public http://www.myspace.com/martinscorsese where he says that he does not have an email and does not go on online and in an interview http://www.timeout.com/film/features/show-feature/9640/Martin_Scorsese_talks-Shutter_Island-.html

These are extras - remember you have the Reader Part 2 as your guide... 





http://awertzberger.com/type2/images/WritingVisual.pdf  this is very long so you may only want to scan some of this - might be useful to Module 3 so will put up on separate blog.

Guardian article about arts policy and funding

In particular

National youth dance company in arts education review

Saturday 10 March 2012

Module 2 - Thinking about the plan

Alan has written up some classic headings for planning on his blog - see this link - and I also added a few notes.  Adesola's blog - see the link- has also talked about the messy quality of this time - but also the creative experience of planning can be liberating. Also for Modules 2 and 3 Peter's blog about creative work in a digital age.

Module 2 is about taking some of the experiences from Module 1

  • the ideas behind communicating publicly, privately, and with peer discussion
  • the use of critical thinking and using theories to support your ideas 
  • and beginning to think about what questions you have about what you do 
and leading them into Module 2 - here are some pointers for the Parts 
  • Part 4 is about learning more about professional practice and disciplinary knowledge so that you can better identify the elements of your practice (dance, graphic design, teaching, acting, etc. ) that relate to your topic - the  topic on which to base your final inquiry. the final inquiry topic will contain both the philosophical (ideas)  and practical elements (related to what you do as paid or unpaid work). In this module you need to identify your award title and the way you can discuss your topic with others in your special interest groups. The inquiry will become more focused as you go along, you will have aims and objectives about what you specifically want to accomplish and the practitioner research element will be guided by one or several inquiry questions - what is is that you are exploring? What do you want to find out?
  • Part 5 Identifying the professional ethics which you use and learning how to carry out an inquiry using ethical practice (p. 18 on Reader 5) - this relates to you being able to explain (in your plan)  the ethical practice you will be using in your inquiry - so you need to fill out the ethical Form and the Employer support form - the Employer support forms lets us know you have the permission of your employer to carry out the inquiry at work - if you do not have an employer as such choose a professional colleague who can comment on and advise you about working in your sector.
  • Part 6 is about using literature to inform you about your topic - using 3 sample pieces - and carry out some trial tools with friends and the BAPP network so that you can see what happens when you try to interview someone, or carry out a questionnaire. You can then use this experience in your plan to decide how you want to gather data for the practitioner research part of your inquiry. 
The plan will have the basic outline of what is is you want to accomplish with the inquiry, the critical reflection portfolio will sum up the learning you have done during this process (this is done on the blogs but a copy of this is in the appendix of your plan).

Work with your academic adviser before the end of the semester! We are almost half way through and many will be taking holidays over Easter. Get in touch! Also look at the Module 2 Addendum sheet for feedback schedules. 

Friday 9 March 2012

The Cultural Capital Exchange event

I am attending this The Cultural Capital Exchange event on Monday the 12th March about creativity in business.

The website for the meeting also refers to a Guardian blog about creative businesses  that speaks further to some of the issues.

I will report back about what might be useful to the BAPP network.

Children and Google

Here is a BBC article about children using google  in preference to asking their teachers... it make link to many of the issues we have been talking about and also relate to an overall generational attitude to education. I still have the World Book Encyclopedias I grew up with, but the pace of knowing has changed in today's society. Where are the kids looking? Information literacy questions here.

Friday 2 March 2012

Special Interest Groups SIGs

We discussed at the campus session using the blogs and Facebook for the special interest groups and many had also thought of using Linked In for their open groups because of ease of access. Linked In is a professional site that is free to join.

Here is the web address to sign up…
http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=what_is_linkedin&trk=hb_what


Emily has started an open group on Linked In called:

Welcome!
Hi to anybody that has decided to join.
I thought this would be a great way to discuss our lines of inquiry. Its great as it's separate from facebook so we won't be distracted and also we can all submit things to the site instead of commenting on the blogs. Hope to hear from people soon so that we can get discussing our ideas and questions, Emily x

Lisa has started an open group called:

A new Theatre company to be set up
Hello Group! I thought I should start by looking at other companies starting off in the business and this article caught my eye. Let me now what you think.

Lily has already started a close Facebook group for education 
and theatre directing


and Sarah Pearson was going to start one for Education on Linked In.

Please send invitations to Paula and she will put them up on the noticeboard. I have done something that noticeboard does not like - so bear with me as I get them up...